Mother of boy who shot sister gets 1 to 10 years

Friday, April 8, 2005 | 9:39 a.m.

A Las Vegas woman whose 5-year-old son shot his 13-month-old sister while home alone was sentenced to one to 10 years in prison on Thursday.

District Judge Stewart Bell sentenced Julia Jackson to prison time pursuant to a plea bargain that prosecutors struck with Jackson. Under the terms of the plea agreement Jackson, a pregnant mother of five children, pleaded guilty to one count of attempted child abuse and neglect or endangerment with substantial bodily harm.

Jackson orignally faced an additional four counts of gross misdemeanor child neglect.

Child Protective Services will ultimately decide the fate of Jackson's five children.

The Clark County Department of Family Service had investigated her for improper supervision of children, parental drug abuse and emotional abuse against a child, police said.

She faced the criminal charges because her son had shot his little sister during a time when they had been left home alone with their 4-year-old brother.

Instead of immediately calling 911 or taking her wounded toddler to the hospital when she returned home and discovered the injury, Jackson called family members. The baby was taken first to another home and then to the hospital, by Jackson's father.

Jackson said she had been shopping at a "hair store" when her daughter was shot in the buttocks on Dec. 7 at her apartment in the 800 block of F Street. While Jackson was gone, her 5-year-old son apparently found a .25-caliber pistol and fired it.

When she returned home about 6:30 p.m. and found the toddler bleeding, Jackson started calling family members, according to the arrest report. Jackson's father came to the apartment and the injured child was driven to a home in the 5800 block of West Lake Mead Boulevard.

The wounded baby didn't arrive at University Medical Center until about 7:30 p.m., according to police reports.

A short time after the baby was taken to the hospital, police found Jackson sitting in a car in front of a relative's house and arrested her.